In a mobile vehicle communication system, the user may occasionally be placed on hold while a call center performs the necessary actions for providing a desired service to the user. During the time that the user's call is on hold, the user may listen to “canned” hold music or messages but does not necessarily receive content that is relevant to the user's call or situation. For example, the user may receive messages saying “Your call is important to us. Please continue to hold” but does not receive messages indicating the actual status of the call.
It would be particularly desirable during an emergency call to keep the user informed of each action that the call center is taking while the user is on hold. In a less urgent example, the user may request directions to a restaurant and it would be desirable to let the user know the steps the call center is taking to locate the restaurant while the user is on hold.
In addition, an advisor may often have to place the user on hold while calling a third-party on behalf of the user. The advisor first collects information from the user, places the user on hold, calls the third-party, repeats to the third-party the information collected and then returns to the user (often placing the third-party on hold) and reports on the third-party conversation to the user or finally connects the user and the third-party together. This is known as a “warm transfer”. It would be desirable to provide hold content to the user that reports on the third-party conversation as it is happening, thereby eliminating the need for reporting back to the user the entire third-party conversation.
It would also be desirable to provide hold content to the user that is uniquely directed to the user. For example, if a user is listening to a particular XM radio station in her mobile vehicle, rather than providing “canned” hold music, the call center could continue to play the same radio station as the user's hold music.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a system and method for customizing hold-time content so that it is targeted to a specific user of a vehicle or so that it keeps the user updated during a specific call. It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a method for customizing hold-time content in a mobile vehicle communication system, and to overcome the deficiencies and obstacles described above.